Imagine the surprise of a Father from Cleveland, Ohio, when he and his newborn daughter were stopped at the airport in Phoenix and told they couldn’t board their plane. Rubin Swift has just won custody of his newborn baby, Ru-Andria, and has traveled to Arizona to take her home. However, he was unaware that his journey was about to take an unexpected turn.
Rubin first met his newborn daughter at the Banner University Medical Center. He instantly bonded with her and met 78-year-old NICU volunteer Joy Ringhofer. Rubin was already a father to 3 and a stepfather to 4. He was surprised when Joy offered her phone number and a ride to the airport.
It was in Frontier Airlines’ policy that newborn babies were required to be 7 days old to be allowed onboard. However, Rubin did not have the necessary documents to prove Ru-Andria’s age. Additionally, requesting a copy of a birth certificate from the hospital would take at least a week, leaving Rubin in a dilemma.
Having no place to stay even for a night, Rubin planned to sleep at the airport until Ru-Andria’s birth certificate was available.
“I was out of money, and the hospital told me that I wouldn’t be able to get a birth certificate for seven days. I was worried that if security saw me sleeping at the airport with a newborn, they’d take her away from me and charge me with neglect. I was stuck,” Rubin recalled.
In that moment of desperation, Rubin could only think of one person. He called Joy, the kind-hearted volunteer who drove him to the airport.
Joy arrived at the airport after a few minutes to pick up Rubin and Ru-Andria. “I told him, ‘I’m going to take you home with me,’ so wait right there,” Joy explained. “There are a lot of dangers out there, but there’s a lot of good, too. I enjoyed talking to Rubin at the hospital and helping him with the baby. He was polite and kind, and I could tell that he had a good heart.”
“I’m black, and she is white,” Rubin said. “I’m a stranger who grew up in the projects in the Bronx, and she’s a great-grandmother who recently lost her husband. She knew very little about me, and yet she took me in. Color wasn’t an issue to her. She showed me that in this crazy world, there is still compassion.”
While Rubin and Ru-Andria were staying with Joy, they went for walks, shopped for groceries, and even visited Joy’s late husband’s grave. Rubin felt at ease with Joy being around since she was like a mother or grandmother figure to him and his daughter.
“I could see the pain in her face from losing her husband,” Rubin said. “So, at the cemetery, as we sat there with the baby, I said, ‘Hey, Charles, look — it’s your new granddaughter.’ We had some touching and wonderful moments. I lost my mom to cancer in 2007, so Joy really became like a mother or grandmother figure to me.”
When the day came for Rubin and Ru-Andria to return home, they said their goodbyes and promised to stay in touch via FaceTime. They would surely miss each other.
“We just knew that we’d always be in touch from that day forward,” Joy reflected. “We started out as strangers and ended up as good friends. Rubin is very grateful to me, but I’m also very grateful to have had the opportunity.”
Rubin’s touching story is a testimony of strangers’ kindness and the unexpected friendships that can arise from challenging situations. ❤️
▼ Here is a video of the heartwarming story of Rubin and Ru-Andria and the kindness Joy provided to the father and his daughter:
Screenshot images and Video credits: © Inside Edition/YouTube
